The disclosed invention generally relates to AC voltage regulation circuitry, and is more particularly directed to a non-saturating magnetic amplifier for regulating an AC voltage.
Known circuitry for regulating an AC voltage include switching regulators which include active devices (e.g., transistors) as well as passive devices. Switching regulators in essence switch power on and off to control the relationship of the on time to the off time so as to achieve the desired average output voltage.
An important consideration with switching regulators is the noise that is generated by the switching. Another consideration with switching regulators is the sensitivity of active devices to hostile environments, such as radiation, which often results in failure.
Further known circuitry for regulating an AC voltage include magnetic amplifiers which have a control winding in addition to the primary and secondary windings. Such magnetic amplifiers are similar to switching regulators in that they switch power on and off, but without active devices and therefore without the sensitivities of active devices.
However, known magnetic amplifiers utilize the saturation characteristics of transformers, which results in noise and loss. Such loss increases with frequency and becomes quite significant at frequencies as low as 1000 Hz.